Quote: Kettykat "Would hall and Pratt be up to the full rigours of Super league as our main strike players in those positions personally I think not ,and still need more time to develop their games . As we’ve found out to our detriment there are no places to hide when the likes of Wigan , saints come calling , they are certainly no Collis or Tupou who would have graced any team in super league. Harsh as it may sound there is no room for sentiment if we are serious of competing with the very best . Imo we grab hall and develop him for the future the same as Pratt , but our starting centres next season , not for me I’m afraid , they’ll get torn a new one imo .'"
That's sort of my thinking with bringing Hall in. I mean when we had those decent few years with Chester we had Tupou and Lyne both red hot at the time, dream team selection Lyne playing for England, imo not far off the best centre partnership in the league for those years and add to that I think we also had a couple of the best centre/wing partnerships going. We need players of that standard if we are serious about building a consistent top-competing side.
I think Pratt has come on in a short time but obviously, you have to line that up with the standard of the Championship. I do think after this year if he continues his trajectory I'd back him in SL. But as we know in SL you need quality defenders as well as attackers and I don't fancy starting with Hall and Pratt in SL if I'm being honest, not next year anyway, maybe it will come a year too soon as a pair.
This is where we could have done with a quota spot if we get into SL next season, to bring in a top Aussie, they have loads of quality centres and get him paired with TJ. Then we can bring in Hall, keep Pratt and develop them, along with Croft. That enables us to develop our own and plan for the future. We haven't, so hopefully Thornley can do another year which would give us a year to let these young guns develop even further.
Also, I think Derrell Olpherts has really settled down and become a decent signing, I'm pleased for the local lad and he would be good cover for us at SL tbh.
Watching the game back Doyle really impressed me, he always does but even more so yesterday. Watching the video you can really see how much more direction and quicker we played when he came on in that 2nd half. He's nippy, got a good fast pass off the deck, can see a gap and tackles as all good hookers do above his weight, and did great yesterday as well as the usual suspects that have been mentioned. It's great that we have him and Harry waiting in the wings, both top players at this level and their ceilings seems so high.
